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Laconia Station
Laconia Station was a Ring Builder Empire shipyard that was discovered by an MCRN probe and later taken control of by forces loyal to Winston Duarte. When discovered, the station was a set of orbiting structures with what appeared to be a half-constructed ship The Expanse Novel: , epilogue - Duarte. Ships made at this station are described as being "grown" rather than constructed as traditional ships were. Design An orbital construction platform, Laconia station comprised of several structures. Constructed ships were grown between the spars and limbs of the orbital arraysThe Expanse Novel: , chapter 8 - Singh. Described as looking like stick moons, the station glowed orange at night with reflected sunlight, and during the day appeared as lines of white behind blueThe Expanse Novella: . When the Laconian Empire began using the station it lit up red, blue, and gold. History After the opening of the Ring network and the events on Ilus IV, colonization of the new systems had begun. As part of this, nations began sending probes into each system to find habitable planets. When an MCRN probe discovered Laconia station, the MCRN admiral Winston Duarte realized that the Martian Congressional Republic was going to suffer a major economic collapse due to emigration. He then deserted the MCR with a third of the MCRN fleet using the Free Navy Conflict as cover. The ships in his rogue fleet required major modifications in order to be able to dock with Laconia station, which had the appearance of more organic structures than that of man-made onesThe Expanse Novel: , epilogue - Sauveterre The alien technology on the station was mainly referred to as protomolecule; however, it was much easier for humanity to tame and make use of it than the protomolecule had been. Paolo Cortázar had been freed from prison and was employed by the newly formed Laconian Empire and was the lead scientist responsible for operating the station. Whilst the Free Navy Conflict was ongoing, Laconia station was already producing its first ships with the Proteus being the very first non-Sol system ship ever built by humanity. This ship would go on to travel to Medina station in the Slow Zone to install railguns onto the Ring Station for the Free Navy to use. Over the next three decades, the Laconian Imperial Navy replaced its entire first fleet with new ship classes built at Laconia station, including the ''Magnetar''-class battlecruisers. At this time, the station had created two state-of-the-art ''Magnetar''-class battlecruisers with another being grown. This class was larger and more powerful than anything Laconia station, or any other shipyard had yet made. When The underground launched The siege of Laconia, the station was their primary objective. After luring the defending laconian fleet away, a group of ships, led by the ''Rocinante'', successfully destroyed Laconia Station. The loss of the station prevented Laconia from being able to build more vastly superior ships, and weakened their control of the Interstellar human community. Ships built at Laconia Station Category:Empire of Laconia Category:Laconian Imperial Navy Category:Laconia system